A Gift

A couple of days ago, my 8 year old came into the kitchen while I was cooking dinner. She said, “Mommy, I have a gift for you!”

When I turned around, I saw her standing on the kitchen tile with a large gift bag hanging rather heavily on one arm.

I gasped because I thought for a moment, because of the way she had said it, that she might have had the baby in there. Then, I dismissed that silly notion from my head because I just knew that would be ridiculous.

Oh dear. When my oldest was really new, like maybe less than two weeks, I discovered he could fit in my cute Mary Kay hand bag. But those straps were probably stronger than a gift bag. And I didn’t carry him around holding the handles. I just thought hmm… I bet he’d fit in this bag, and then I tried it.

ROTFL~ I love it! I love how your big one looks a bit sheepish and how the baby looks a wee bit nervous about it all too. Or does the baby look nervous ’cause of the tone of voice you used on the big one??

Ohhhhh, the picture is too cute, but I can imagine the fear. Em and Soph seem to think their little sister can be dragged around and put in anything as well. I’ve uttered many “Thank you God” for not letting her be hurt:)

I think it’s adorable! For safety reasons, you can make sure that she knows not to put the baby in something that closes, but to just put the baby in the bag is so cute! If she was carrying it like you said, that might have made it scarier!

When I had my first child, I put her in all kinds of silly places just for the sake of taking pictures. That picture will mean so much to you in later years.

Okay, I take it back, I probably would have freaked if someone ELSE had done it.

When my oldest was about that size my mom (who shall remain anonymous, but happens to have commented on this same post) and I put him in a soft-sided insulated cooler on wheels (with the lid open, of course) and rolled him around the living room. I think he liked it. It was hard to tell. His expression was a lot like Emelyn’s…

Many many years ago, my 5 year old nephew came into the room where my sister and I were. He hemmed and hawwed for a few minutes and said “mom the baby accidentally fell into the Pamper’s box.” She was maybe 10 days old and she fell head first.

That just gave me a flashback…when my son was 5 wks old, my 2 1/2 yo came walking into the kitchen HOLDING HIM. She had unbuckled him from his swing where he was napping & brought him in to see me. I think I lost 5 years of my life.

I once had an older lady tell me to make sure I told my children never to _move_ the baby…because when she had her second, she told her older child not to ever _carry_ the baby…only to walk in to the living room to find the 6 week old baby near the 2 year old brother, playing cars…at her gasp, big brother proclaimed, “I didn’t carry him, mama–I ROLLED him!”

I had to stifle my laughter as I read this because my 6 month old was nursing, and just drifting off to sleep! I’m the oldest of 6, and we used to do all sorts of stuff like this to my younger siblings. I don’t think we tried the gift bag though. We definitely dressed those babies up in some funny costumes, gave them props, and photographed them doing silly things. Your note brought back memories!

Several years ago, we called my parents down to visit for a late Christmas celebration. After giving gifts all around I casually told them I had one more to get and ducked into my bedroom. We had them close their eyes and I put a beautiful Christmas gift bag on the floor between their feet and told them to open their eyes and look! My mother, a baby doll lover, peeked inside and began to admire the doll we’d picked out. Then our NEWLY ADOPTED DAYS OLD SON MOVED!!! Their expressions were priceless, and I think that has been the very best Christmas surprise we’ve ever given them! They had no idea we were in the process of adopting a 3rd time. We’ve always surprised them with the announcements but that time was perfectly executed.